Welcome to Mljet population approximately seven hundred and decreasing. It seems like islanders are turning their seaside homes into summer retreats and moving to more urban mainland cities. As a vacation destination Mljet is a magical place to visit in the Mediterranean. This Adriatic island’s geography makes it breathtaking with its beaches, saltwater lakes, aquatic life, forests, caves, lookout spots, beautiful sunsets and rich cultural history. You can hike, bike, swim, scuba or just lounge around and bask in its natural beauty. There are thousands of web pages on the internet including Mljet’s own tourism page passionately and accurately describing the island as a must see place to visit. Like a siren song even though Mljet is beautiful at the same time it can be hazardous to your health. Natural and technical hazards such as heat waves, heavy rains, rock slides, narrow roads, earthquakes and high winds can pose a risk to anyone visiting Mljet.

Scooby-Doo, where are you!? Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of it but if my sister’s bike had a name I would call it Scooby-Doo. The bike disappears from the storage room and where it goes depends on its rider. My sister goes biking with her BFF for about an hour and a half once or twice a week. How much of that time is spent riding verses drinking coffee or tea somewhere I have yet to figure out and is the subject of continuous discussion between her husband and I. Ultimately it’s up to the rider to determine the bike’s purpose. For my sister, it’s a social ride. For me, this bike is a self-powered toy that I like to play with … until I got banned from riding it.

Nicknamed “Pearl of the Adriatic”, Dubrovnik is a popular tourist destination on the Adriatic Sea with it’s Old City (much like Old Quebec) and it’s seaport frequented by cruise ships and vacationers on their own sailboats and yachts.

In order to get to Dubrovnik I had to wake up at four thirty in the morning to catch a bus for the forty-five minute ride to Mljet’s main harbour in Sobra. Then hop on the high speed passenger ferry, Nona Ana, for the one and a half hour ride to the city; some day I’ll get used to this commute. The only commute I like so far is the one in my village which takes sixty seconds to walk down eighty-two stairs so I can jump into the bay for a swim.